Kawai CN34 Reviews

“I Like its stylish shape”

I bought this piano for its tone, right through the octaves, and for its touch…
I love it, best tone of any digital piano at a comparable price (better than Roland and Yamaha!)

I like its stylish shape, and matching piano stool.

It came without the warranty documentation, which is a minor irritation.
A bit more power from the speakers would be good.

More technological extras than I need or want, personally.

Only anxiety is – will it be reliable over the long haul? I hope so.

Review by Gillian Mckenna

 

“I recommend this EP for home musicians”

Dear Graham,

Thank you very much. Your guide and rating has been quite useful to assit me selecting my EP.

For the selection of Kawai CN34, I’ve considered the following:
– Sound timbre
– Polyphony
– Uncluttered design
– Keys (Ivory Touch- Graded Hammer)
– New design- advanced electronics
– Compatibility with my current instruments (Kawai MP5; Yamaha Motif XS7, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, M-Audio BX8, Rode NT1A & M3, Boss DR880 etc.)
– Availability & Speed of Delivery
– Availability & quality of dealer support & warranty
– Allocated budget

If I review the performance of Kawai KN34; I can say, I’m quite impressed. Although it has quite advanced specification and features, the piano sounds has perfect sound (typical Kawai sound; slightly darker; but very satisfying to me) The keyboard is of same high quality type as my MP5’s keys, although not wooden; but MP5 keys have proven very reliable and solid. There are excellent sounds (organ, string, orchestral instruments & choir- to say the least), and layered, split and drum pattern accompaniment is quite straightforward, and virtually took no time to master. Octave shifts are easily adjusted. 3 pedals function very smoothly.
Sequencer/recorder has capability of 3 songs, 2 trank, 90,000 notes; actually quite big (though I might want more), however, USB recording/transfer is so easy that more is not normally needed.

Polyphony is 256 notes (impressive), and it never causes any drop-outs even in complex layered music with damper pedal used extensively (my older designed MP5 has also 192 note polphony, and have not caused any drop outs so far) Speakers (2x20W) are single 16cm units and are sufficient for a large room in a house; however, may not be powerful enough for a concert hall (not a cese for me)

Key bench is not crowded with several keys; not a problem with daily practicing ann recording; but might not be easy during a show, also considering a rather small nuımber of registrations (9), although the resigtrations store layers/splits/rythms and easy to recall.

Effects have been redesigned, and include very satisfactory amp simulations and other effects. Experimenting with them will greatly change the color of the standard sound, and I keep on nvestigating them still.

Temperaments included in the system are very effective to try, although I do not quite experiment as a usual practice.

Midi connections and possibilities are standard and sufficient for almost all purposes. Converison of midi (SMF) files to WAV and MP3 is easy and starightforward.

Physical connections incl. 2 headphone outs, are sufficient for most connection purposes.

Physical size, weight and appearance are very appealing as a part of home furniture; cute and not distractive. It is a green product to save energy.

I recommend this EP for home musicians demanding a high performing, uncomplicated instrument with lots of hidden features in case they need to explore any further. It has limitations (no wooden keys, limited powered speakers, longer sound selection for “other” sounds where majority of other choices are kept, limited number of on-board song recording capacity etc.), but all balanced out in a reasonable package to deliver value.

It is assembled/manufactured in Indonesia, not in China- for some people (like me) it might be an important selection/preference criteria.

I’m happy for my selection.

Review by Gursel Kahrmanan

 

“The CN34 has a superb set of piano sounds”

Hello Graham,

I found your ebook very helpful in supporting my descision making about my choice of a digital piano.
After checking out a few models, I decided on the Kawai CN34 as being a good match for my requirements.
The demo I received was very impressive, and the instrument has a superb set of piano sounds and
keyboard feel.

It is being delivered today, and I am very excited!.

It was quite a bit more than I originally budgeted, but I think it is a good long term investment and
I will probably get better value than outgrowing one of the ‘budget’ instruments I was considering at the outset.

Thank you again for providing your material and for the piano lessons and tips.

Review by Alex Masters

 

“All-in-all a good purchase decision!”

I’ve had the Kawai CN34 for about a month. So many different ways to enjoy the different instruments included! I am not, by any stretch, a real down the line pianist.
I play mostly by ear and experience, which can sometimes have really interesting results when combining sounds. Having the ability to quickly record little ‘ideas’ is a big plus.

I want to get into the USB to computer capabilities of using the keyboard as a controller for my computer-based DAW software, Reaper. Haven’t done that yet, but will in the near future. I do wish that the split keyboard function would also allow for transposing the two keyboard sections differently, but maybe in a future firmware update they’ll think about adding that. All-in-all a good purchase decision!

Review by Charles Konkol

 

“We preferred the sound of the Kawai”

We did side by side comparisons of the Kawai CN34 and Yamaha CLP430. We liked both and it was a very hard decision. We bought the CN34 because we felt the CLP430 had a too bright sound.
At first, the CLP430 sounded better but the sound became annoying. We also played on the higher end Kawai and Yamaha upright “real” pianos and also preferred the sound of the Kawai.
We felt it more pleasing to our hears.

The CLP430 and the Yahama upright probably sound more like each so we prefered the Kawai. Again, it was a hard decision. The CN34 had many more features too along with better MIDI playback
capabilities. My wife liked the keyboard feel better too.

Hope we made the right decision. It is for our young son.

Review by Jack Jones, Arkansas, USA

 

“These are customer reviews from actual owners of this piano.
The most recent review is at the top of this page “, Graham Howard, Piano Advisor

Send me an email if you have any questions or need advice: grahamhoward@ukpianos.co.uk
Or call 020 8367 5107

 

>> For Kawai CN34 information, specifications and prices, click here